IVF Products

Test tube babies, as they are commonly known, are created using IVF or In Vitro Fertilization which literally means fertilization in glass. The process involves sperm from a woman’s partner or a donor being placed in a dish with eggs that have been removed from her ovaries and fertilizing them before being placed in her womb. In Vitro Fertilization may be recommended for a number of reasons including; age, other techniques have failed, the woman’s tubes are blocked or the infertility cannot be explained.

Although techniques for In Vitro Fertilization vary, a normal method of IVF would go something like this. Initially your physician will give you hormone blocking drugs normally produced during your menstrual period. This will help them have improved control as to when your eggs will be produced. To ensure you ovaries produce more than a single egg, further drugs are given.

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To monitor your developing eggs, vaginal ultrasound scans are taken as well as blood tests to ensure that the eggs are increasing the estrogen level. All these tests are designed to show when the time is right for an injection of another hormone to help the eggs mature. The reason for this is that the eggs will be collected between 34 and 38 hours later, even if it is the middle of the night. Ultrasound guidance is used to help collect the egg but it means you have to be given drugs or a general anesthetic to help you relax because it takes about 30 minutes.

Next the man must produce some fresh sperm at about the same time as the eggs are collected. This will be stored for a short time before the sperm are washed and spun at a high speed, so that the healthiest and most active can be selected. For a woman using donated sperm, the same process is used once the sperm has been taken from the freezer. The process then continues with the eggs and sperm left for 16 to 20 hours in a laboratory dish to mix and after that period, checked to see if they have fertilized. Any that haven’t, or any that have fertilized abnormally, are discarded and the remaining embryos are then left for another 24-48 hours before being checked again.

The womb needs to be ready to accept the fertilized egg so a gel, injection or pessaries are given to ensure the lining of the womb is prepared.

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